It is written in Scala, compiled by the scalac compiler that uses a Java runtime.

The Scala code wraps a few 'git' commands (git show, git log), then processes the output. Any language good at text processing could be used; the original author was playing with a new language while solving a new problem.

The Scala compiler 'scalac' builds the *.scala files in to a multiple *.class files.

The Scala runtime, 'scala', uses the configured JVM.

How to obtain and install

These instructions recommend cloning the git repository and working from a local clone. You can obtain a tarball or zip file, if you wish. The effect is the same, but the git clone allows you to interact with the upstream if you need.

If use github.com, you can use the fork command to make your own fork within github.com. The use the clone command on your own fork, instead of the main upstream tree: git clone git://github.com/YOURUSERNAME/lookatgit.git

The 'lookatgit' README says to use the Scala upstream release directly. The Makefile for 'lookatgit' is hard-coded to seek the Scala binaries on that path. If you choose to follow this method, do not make changes to the Makefile.

Edit the /path/to/src/lookatgit/Makefile. Below is what the Makefile looks like in the upstream source. Change the path to the Scala compiler to /usr/bin/scalac and the Scala runtime to /usr/bin/scala

Edit the Makefile to include a new target for your chosen git repository. The git repository must exist locally:

Solutions

System.err.println("Processing " + commit_ttl + " commits, this may take a while...")

Some tips from 'lookatgit' original author:

It is likely hung somehow. The code is executing things via Runtime.getRuntime() ... a side effect of Scala using the JVM is it is bad at executing processes. There is a requirement to consume pending input or it will hang.